Friday, November 23, 2007

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to The Nanny Doctor Blog! As a clinical psychologist and former nanny of 10 years, I have brought my experiences together to consult from an Attachment theory based perspective for families and nannies across the country. In the spirit of Attachment Theory, I seek to promote positive relationships between families and their nannies that create strong, healthy, secure emotional bonds between children and their caregivers that will nurture future meaningful relationships.

As a past nanny, I have experience working in a variety of different types of households with a variety of different types of families. As a result of my professional training and nanny experience, I recognize that every family is different and has its own unique needs. As a nanny, I worked with families of all different backgrounds. I worked in small households as well as fully-staffed estates. I worked as both a live-in nanny and as a live-out nanny. I worked for families as a weekday nanny as well as the sole weekend nanny. I traveled with families domestically and abroad. I have nannied for families with infants, toddlers, elementary age, middle school age, and teens. I know what it is like to be a nanny.

Over the years, I saw a need for families and nannies to have a way to communicate their needs to each other in the best interest of their child. Unfortunately all too often nannies are fired as a result of a conflict between the parent and the nanny prior to any attempt at a conflict resolution. The result? The child wakes up the next day and a significant attachment figure in their lives has disappeared. For children, the nanny was a person who maintained their physical and emotional safety on a daily basis. When it becomes clear that that person can just disappear, children may be more cautious to develop a bond in the future, which may contribute to future failures. A loss of or a change in caregivers can be a significant stressor on a child. Furthermore, there is evidence that our early attachment styles especially the first three years of our lives remain steady over time and tend to be replicated in our relationships throughout childhood and then in our friendships and romantic relationships as adults.

Now, here in this blog, I am prepared to discuss topics related to your family's needs and respond to your queries in an effort to help you maintain and nurture your family's relationship with your nanny. I encourage you to post comments or any questions you may have for The Nanny Doctor.

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3 comments:

Lesley Riley said...

Lindsay - How can you establish boundaries between a mother who works in the home and the nanny? who gets final say? How do you keep the children from running to mommy since they know she is there?

The Nanny Doctor said...

Thanks for your comment Lesley. This is a great question, and I will respond to it in a post!

Anonymous said...

I have been a nanny for years and I am realizing that parents often times do not know what they really want from their nanny. Some are happy to just have someone there as a placeholder, while others want their nanny to show up everyday with a bag of magic tricks. How can nannies clearly communicate with their employers and get them to see how valuable they are?